While attending a 9/11 memorial event in New York, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton felt “‘overheated’” and left early, appearing “unsteady” as she entered her campaign van, NBC News reported, noting that she has been diagnosed with pneumonia. Some media figures used the episode to declare that Clinton was “as sick as a bitch” and “having a seizure of some kind.”

Right-wing media attacked the Iowa LGBT Rural Summit as possibly the “dumbest” “waste” of taxpayer money to date. Conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh even suggested the summit was a “scam” by the “Obama regime” to “bust up” conservative voting areas of the country by convincing lesbians to become farmers with government subsidies. Iowa’s summit, which was held on August 18, was the 15th in the nationwide LGBT Rural Summit Series, which aims to share information to protect and strengthen LGBT communities in rural areas.

Conservative media are circulating two pictures from February showing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton slipping on stairs to claim that her “health could be taking a nose-dive.” The fake controversy fits into right-wing media’s long history of baselessly questioning Clinton’s physical health.

The fringe right-wing blog American Mirror published the pictures, which show aides helping Clinton up the stairs, in an August 7 blog post, claiming they’re the “latest evidence” that the “questionable health condition of Hillary Clinton should be a major issue of the 2016 campaign.” The post concluded, “At what point is the mainstream media going to question Clinton’s health status?”

Mainstream media quickly dismissed the charge that the pictures are evidence of a health issue as a “conspiracy theory,” with CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter tweeting, “The photo is from February 24. She slipped,” and writing on CNN.com that the reports show “how easily photos can be distorted to take on a new and more sinister meaning.” He added that the “blog post failed to note that the photos were six months old, or that the Getty caption indicated that Clinton simply slipped while walking up the stairs.” The Daily Mailexplained that the photo “is falsely being presented as some form of proof” that Clinton “is in poor health.”

The photo quickly made its way from American Mirror to other right-wing blogs, includings Drudge Report, WorldNetDaily, and Breitbart News. According to Breitbart News, the photos show Clinton “struggling to make it up the stairs, either as a result of her fragile body or perhaps because her well-documented brain injuries make it harder for her to transport herself through daily life activities.” The website RT also claimed that the “worrying photographs” have people “speculating” that “Clinton’s health could be taking a nose-dive.”

The invented controversy fits into right-wing media’s never-ending freakout over Clinton’s health and bodily functions. Conservative outlets and pundits have claimed that an instance of Clinton coughing raised “further questions about her health and stamina,” and they have repeatedlymocked her for looking “sick” and “unenergetic.”

Right-wing media have spent years attacking the Department of Justice’s handling of multi-billion dollar settlements from financial institutions partly responsible for the housing and financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. Conservative outlets falsely allege that the DOJ used settlement payments to create a “liberal slush fund” to disburse millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations like the nonpartisan National Council of La Raza (NCLR), even though these groups are certified housing counseling agencies.

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson's controversial comment -- that the number of people killed in the Holocaust "would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed" -- echoes an old conservative media talking point that has long been condemned as "historically inaccurate."

Conservative columnist Morgan Brittany thinks the recent unrest in Baltimore may be a "set-up" and that President Obama might "have to institute martial law to preserve order, form a national police force and postpone the 2016 elections" if the police officers charged in Freddie Gray's death are acquitted.

In her new column for conspiracy website WND, Brittany announces that "something is not right" and speculates, "I don't think the chaos in Baltimore 'just happened'; I think it was planned and is the next step in the breakdown of our society."

Brittany laments that Obama "was supposed to be the one to unite all Americans and heal the divide, but instead, he did everything he could to turn the heat up and make sure the divide became wider." According to Brittany, the president has "inserted himself into every controversy that had a racial component" and "always took the side of the African-American." Following news of Gray's death, Brittany argues, "The leaders of chaos rushed to take advantage of that situation and all hell broke loose."

After suggesting that charges filed against police officers allegedly involved in Gray's death are an "overreach," Brittany pondered whether Obama would react to potential acquittals by imposing martial law, an idea she grants is "maybe" crazy:

So she and all of the people involved in making that decision have possibly created an even bigger problem. If indeed after all of the evidence and testimony is given in this case and the officers are acquitted, what then? I predict at that point the lid will blow off, and we will have another Rodney King situation.

From now until the verdict in this trial, the agitators will continue to travel and communicate city to city, town to town, stirring up unrest and hate, keeping people on edge waiting to see the result of this cliff-hanger. If the verdict is not what they want, perhaps Obama will have to institute martial law to preserve order, form a national police force and postpone the 2016 elections.

Crazy? Maybe, but we are on the edge in this country. Attacks are coming from all sides, from inside and outside of our borders, and we are becoming overwhelmed. What happens when Baltimore spreads across the country and our television screens show four or five cities burning at once? Who will we turn to at that point? "One Nation under God" - we need Him now more than ever.

Last year, Brittany speculated in a column that the Obama administration may have been orchestrating Ebola and other crises in order to declare martial law and seize people's guns.

Brittany's column shares today's WND opinion page with a column from newly-announced presidential candidate Ben Carson, which warns of the dangers of an EMP attack. The day he announced his candidacy, Carson published a WND piece pitching readers on what he will "accomplish as president."

Conservative media are criticizing the Minnesota State High School League for adopting a policy that will allow transgender student athletes to play on the sports teams that correspond with their gender identity, warning that the policy will cause gender confusion, inappropriate behavior in locker rooms, and unfairness for female athletes. But officials from athletic leagues across the country haven't reported problems since enacting similar trans-inclusive policies.

On December 4, the Minnesota State High School League voted overwhelmingly to adopt a policy that would allow transgender students to participate on the athletic teams that correspond to their gender identity.

The policy was approved despite a right-wing misinformation campaign which tried to derail the measure by stoking fears about female locker rooms and student privacy. That campaign was led by the extreme Minnesota Child Protection League, which produced ads warning that trans-inclusive athletic teams would cause the "END OF GIRLS' SPORTS" and allow boys to take showers with girls. Those talking points were echoed by conservative media outlets including Fox News, Townhall, and WorldNetDaily. An unhinged article in The Federalist warned that the policy would be "psychologically destabilizing" and "encourage children to reject their bodies." The policy's adoption has only fanned the flames of conservative media outrage.

But Minnesota is hardly the first state to allow transgender student athletes to play on the teams they feel comfortable with. School athletic leagues across the country have had similar policies for transgender students in place for years without experiencing the problems predicted by conservative activists.

A columnist for conspiracy site WND asked whether the Obama administration has "orchestrated" Ebola and other crises in order to declare "martial law" and seize everyone's guns.

In recent weeks, conservative media figures have used the Ebola story to attack the Obama administration with twisted criticism, with radio host Michael Savage going so far as to suggest the administration was hoping to "infect the nation." Now Morgan Brittany, actress and host of conservative online show PolitiChicks,ponders in her WND column, "What If The Conspiracy Theories Are True?"

Writing about a dinner party she attended in "the heart of Los Angeles" with a crowd that "would never want to be thought of as conservative," Brittany describes how the attendees were skeptical of recent government statements about Ebola and other issues, and claimed "everything that has come out of Washington has been misleading or an out and out lie."

According to Brittany, the attendees questioned "Why is there no urgency to stop the disease from entering the U.S.?" She explains the conversation then "veered into conspiracy territory," including concerns about what Brittany called "$1 billion worth of disposable FEMA coffins":

Upon hearing this latest evidence of the incompetence permeating our government, the conversation veered into conspiracy territory. One of the men brought up the fact that Washington has known for months if not years that we were at risk for some sort of global pandemic. According to a government supplier of emergency products, the Disaster Assistance Response Team was told to be prepared to be activated in the month of October for an outbreak of Ebola. Hmm, that's just like the fact that they knew 60,000 illegal children were going to be coming across our southern border eight months before it happened.

Questions were then brought up about the stockpiling of ammunition and weapons by Homeland Security over the past couple of years and the $1 billion worth of disposable FEMA coffins supposedly stored in Georgia. Why was there preparation being made for FEMA camps to house people in isolation? These were the questions being seriously discussed.

For the record, the "disposable FEMA coffins" Brittany warns of "have nothing to do with FEMA or any other agency of the U.S. government, and they were around long before Barack Obama was first elected to the presidency of the U.S. in 2008." According to Snopes, a private company that sells plastic containers called grave liners stored the containers outdoors. An image of the containers circulated online and "gave rise to wild conspiracy theories" that have been circulating online for years.

Brittany concludes by lamenting how people have lost trust in government because of supposed dishonesty, which creates a situation where "theories begin to emerge about all sorts of things." She adds, "My fear is that this has all been orchestrated from the very beginning," possibly so that "guns can be seized":

Recent polls show that there is a crisis of confidence among the people. When the people lose all trust in their government because of the lies they have been told over and over again, theories begin to emerge about all sorts of things. We desperately need someone to rebuild the trust and restore faith in this government. The damage that has been done is almost irreparable.

My fear is that this has all been orchestrated from the very beginning. Who knows? Maybe the current administration needs this to happen so martial law can be declared, guns can be seized and the populace can be controlled. Once that happens ... game over.

Last month, Brittany was hosted on Fox & Friends to plug her new book, What Women Really Want.

WND has long been a cesspool of wild conspiracy theories. The site has for years led the charge claiming President Obama lacks an authentic birth certificate and has featured columns suggesting the 2012 shooting in Sandy Hook was staged.

Gay activists constantly tell us that there's no such thing as a slippery moral slope and that the acceptance of homosexuality will not lead to the acceptance of other sexual practices, such as incest. The facts prove otherwise, and it is clear that we are rapidly sliding down the very slope whose existence they deny.

As I continually chart our society's moral free fall, the term that best describes our current condition is sexual anarchy, where men can have sex with men just as well with women, where sex outside of wedlock is just as acceptable as sex within wedlock, where marriage doesn't necessarily mean monogamy and where longstanding social taboos are cast off.

[...]

In their zeal to justify homosexual practice, these misguided teachers have opened the door wide to incest as well, removing the primary biblical texts that prohibit these sexual unions.

Society as a whole needs to take heed as well. If we don't reverse our slide down this slippery moral slope, we will soon crash and burn.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has again dipped into the fringes of the conservative media for support. The Washington Postreported that Paul is building a national network to potentially support a 2016 presidential run, and is using Fritz Wenzel as his pollster.

Wenzel is a birther who has called President Obama an "imposter," and teamed up with conspiracy site WND to push dubious polling about the president's birth certificate. In addition to promoting conspiracy theories, Wenzel is also an objectively poor pollster. He has a long history of offering wild electoral predictions, prompting Slate reporter Dave Weigel to dub him the "pollster that's always wrong."

Wenzel's problematic history means the media should treat his polling and analysis skeptically as Paul ramps up his presidential efforts.

The website of Wenzel Strategies touts an endorsement from Paul, who states: "Fritz Wenzel and Wenzel Strategies played a crucial role in my [Senate] election victory ... He is smart, swift, great to work with, and provides top-quality work. I would recommend him to any political campaign." Wenzel was also the pollster for Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign.

Paul's birther pollster is his latest connection to fringe conservative media. Last year Jack Hunter resigned from Paul's Senate office after his "neo-Confederate" and "pro-secessionist" punditry (including defenses of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth) surfaced. Hunter co-wrote Paul's 2011 book, and also appeared in The Daily Caller and on Fox Business. Paul has also repeatedly appeared on the program of leading 9/11 conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Paul used Jones' program as a publicity and fundraising platform during his U.S. Senate campaign, and Jones was an enthusiastic and active supporter of his candidacy.

Conservative news outlets are hyping a minor website change to suggest that the FBI is distancing itself from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) - a group that monitors hate speech and violence - in response to criticism from anti-gay organizations. But the FBI has issued a statement debunking that narrative and continues to publicly touts its partnership with SPLC on its website.

On March 26, Washington Examiner reporter Paul Bedard asserted that the FBI was ending its relationship with SPLC, noting that a link to the group had been scrubbed from the FBI's Hate Crime "resources" page and calling it a "significant rejection of the influential legal group":

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has labeled several Washington, D.C.-based family organizations as "hate groups" for favoring traditional marriage, has been dumped as a "resource" on the FBI's Hate Crime Web page, a significant rejection of the influential legal group.

The Web page scrubbing, which also included eliminating the Anti-Defamation League, was not announced and came in the last month after 15 family groups pressed Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director James Comey to stop endorsing a group -- SPLC -- that inspired a recent case of domestic terrorism at the Family Research Council.

[...]

The FBI had no comment and offered no explanation for its decision to end their website's relationship with the two groups, leaving just four federal links as hate crime "resources." The SPLC had no comment.

The conservatives behind some of the worst political smear campaigns have started a super PAC.

Takeover Super PAC is backed by a team that includes Joseph Farah, founder of the fringe conspiracy site WND; Jerome Corsi, a leading member of the Swift Boat and birther campaigns; and Floyd Brown, producer of the racist Willie Horton ads.

The group says it will "win elections and take our country back from the liberals and socialists" and exhorts potential donors, "If you're tired to [sic] putting your money to work for turncoats and traitors, join us." Takeover claims liberals want to eliminate the right to privacy, the Second Amendment, religion, want to "permanently enslave the American people" with Obamacare and entitlements, and ultimately desire "a tyrannical dictatorship."

In a fundraising email announcing the PAC, Farah stated that he's "not giving my money to the RNC any longer. I'm not giving a dime to Karl Rove's Tea Party-hating PAC, and I'm not supporting spineless Republicans who lead us down the same liberal roads. I'm giving my money to Takeover Super PAC." Farah and other conservatives have been feuding with Rove, a fight that intensified when the former Bush adviser launched an effort to protect Republicans against tea party challengers.

The section of Takeover's website for supported candidates is currently empty. Several navigation buttons on its website, such as links to its Facebook (which links to "facebook.com/takoversuperpac [sic]"), Twitter (which links to "twitter.com/takoversuperpac [sic]"), and YouTube pages do not work -- and a page devoted to the "Takeover Store" is also blank.

Takeover's advisory board indicates the group will be heavily intertwined with professional consultants.

Right-wing media outlets are parroting the attacks of an anti-LGBTQ hate group on Connecticut’s openly gay comptroller, Kevin Lembo. Lembo recently sent the American Family Association (AFA) a letter asking the group to submit written documentation certifying it complies with the nondiscrimination regulations governing the Connecticut State Employee Campaign for Charitable Giving (CSEC), which allows Connecticut State employees to contribute to qualifying non-profit charities through payroll deductions. Lembo’s office has since been “flooded” with emails and phone calls from AFA supporters.